IDEX raises $25M to carry it to profitability with biometric payment cards

IDEX Biometrics has completed a private placement of NOK 214 million (US$25 million) with existing shareholders, including Woodford Investment Management, Invesco, and members of IDEX’s board and management, which the company will use to meet capital and operational requirements, and expects to carry it to profitability as biometric payment cards are adopted.

53,437,500 new shares were issued at NOK 4.00 ($0.47) each on January 30, just under the 10 percent of the company total in new shares authorized in its 2018 annual general meeting.

“We are delighted to secure this funding from existing shareholders so that we are able to fully capitalize on the level of anticipated demand for our solutions,” comments IDEX CEO Stan Swearingen. “This investment is a strong endorsement of the massive value creation potential of IDEX’s fingerprint sensor technology in the biometric smart card space.”

IDEX also issued a series of mandatory notices of share acquisition required by regulators.

Chairman Morten Opstad acquired 100,000 through a close associate, bringing their combined stake to 7,298,916 shares. Board member Andy MacLeod acquired 140,000 shares, bringing him to 693,475, plus 500,000 incentive subscription rights. CEO Stan Swearingen acquired 250,000, for a total of 400,000, plus 6,815,000 incentive subscription rights, and CFO Henrik Knudtzon acquired 100,000, giving him 250,000 shares and 2,290,000 incentive subscription rights.

Sundvall Holding AS and Charles Street International Holdings Limited (CSIHL) each participated in the private placement, and now hold stakes of 9.77 percent and 9.98 percent, respectively, in IDEX. Sundvall picked up 1.5 million shares, and CSIHL just over 2 million shares in the placement.

IDEX, which recently joined the Fintech Association of Japan, is working towards the mass deployment of its sensors on biometric payment cards, which Swearingen recently told Biometric Update will likely begin this year. The company says it is ideally positioned to capture a large share of this market, which Goode Intelligence forecasts will surpass 575 million units by 2023, with its sensor solutions, matching algorithms and remote enrollment solution.

Article Topics

biometric cards  |  biometrics  |  fingerprint sensors  |  IDEX  |  investment